Panikmache

This is a German word for the particularly US tendency to create panic. I love the way it is a noun--so convenient, no such word in English? Also of this ilk is a phrase that literally means to tenderise meat by beating it, but when used means "to soften up a man"--for example to get him to marry you. The phrase is "Weichklopfen". One more cool word is "pilzfoermig" for mushroom-shaped.